Got some news in email today, and among them there was a link to this page on StarWars.com showcasing some of DK Publishing's newest books slated for release sometime in 2011. The most interesting book was the Character Encyclopedia which is a visual compendium of every LEGO Star Wars minifigure to date. And, like the Visual Dictionary, it will come with an exclusive minifigure. Hopefully, it will be a medal ceremony Han Solo to complement the Luke figure.

Looks good. I wasn't particularly impressed with the previews of LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary, but I picked up a copy and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Hopefully this one will be just as good. I second the medal ceremony Han Solo sentiment. If LEGO is ever going to produce a complement to the medal ceremony Luke Skywalker minifigure, this is the perfect opportunity.

I love DK books and loved the previous LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary. I'm looking forward to this as well.

Quick question. It's been several years since I bought a new Star Wars set (I switched to Indiana Jones when they were on the shelves) so I hadn't noticed that they finally fixed the paint job on R2-D2's domed head. I have always been annoyed by the large white gap my R2's have. When did they introduce the new paint scheme to correct this problem?

While on the subject, can I ask this... The Luke Skywalker from the Visual Dictionary were per-assembled, and this unknown figure will most likely be too, and that makes me wonder whether these are good, proper, well made figures or are they likely to be of the poorer quality that some of the magnet sets were?

Joedward wrote:While on the subject, can I ask this... The Luke Skywalker from the Visual Dictionary were per-assembled, and this unknown figure will most likely be too, and that makes me wonder whether these are good, proper, well made figures or are they likely to be of the poorer quality that some of the magnet sets were?

Out of curiosity, is the manufacturing quality of the minifig the deal breaker as to whether or not you buy the book? I'm 99.9% certain that I'll be ordering this one when it's available on Amazon, just like with the Visual Dictionary. I didn't even consider the source of the minifig, and I haven't even freed Luke from his plastic prison yet.